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For those who havent played it/downloaded it, the NHL 14 playable demo was released recently, and in it, contained three game modes. Play Now, which consisted of playing the third period (and overtime/shootout if needed), between the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks. NHL ’94 Anniversary mode, which contains the third period between the Bruins/Blackhawks, and Hockey Ultimate Team, which contains you receiving a random pack, and facing off in a tournament against the Halifax Mooseheads, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks and Team Canada respectively.

A quick analysis on each, possibly detailing what the retail version of NHL 14 could be all about.

NHL ’94 Anniversary mode should be available to play online multiplayer. It is only there as a replacement for the Winter Classic, which wasn’t played due to the lockout. This mode would be more fun being able to play online, as I feel the mode just wont be enough purely as offline single player/multiplayer. NHL ’94 mode is more than fun, and even the beginner would be able to do well in this mode, as opposed to needing to do tricks and dekes in order to be successful in other modes.

Ultimate Team from what I saw, seems to be fairly similar to the NHL ’13 model, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it would be a lot better if they re-introduced permanent training to your players.

Play Now was just a normal game, giving you the chance to show off the new fighting mechanic, the new dekes, and everything else you can think of. The fighting mechanic is 1000% better than previous editions, although they seem to happen a lot more regularly than even a real-life NHL game, which can be bothersome, and just like Madden and FIFA, the game’s looks are tweaked to look better, but the overall feel is pretty much the same as last year’s edition.

Ah, Ryan Miller. Hero of Team USA at the 2010 Olympics. Nowadays though, it’s a completely different story. The Sabres want him gone for some reason because they believe Jhonas Enroth is this king goalie or something I dunno. Anyway, if the Sabres were to trade Ryan Miller this season, where would they possibly trade him? Let’s go through the other 29 other teams and see if anyone would want a 33 year old Goaltender.

With the announcement of NHL players being able to compete in the Winter Olympics in Sochi, the NHL released the schedule for the upcoming 2013-13 NHL season. This season will include the Winter Classic, which was cancelled last season due to the lockout, but will include the two teams that were meant to play in the Winter Classic, the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Also included are five more outdoor games as well as the Winter Classic. Ottawa and Vancouver will contest the 2014 Tim Horton’s NHL Heritage Classic, and the Coors Light NHL Stadium Series will be four matchups, involving the Anaheim Ducks against the Los Angeles Kings at Dodger Stadium, New York Rangers versus New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers versus New York Islanders, both taking place in Yankee Stadium and Pittsburgh Penguins vs Chicago Blackhawks at Soldier Field.

There will be a break from Feb 9-25, to make way for the Winter Olympics, where the majority of NHL players will be taking part.

The Atlantic and Metropolitan divisions will make up the Eastern Conference, whilst the Central and Pacific will be the Western Conference. Detroit and Columbus are moving to the East, and Winnipeg is moving West. The schedule makes sure that all 30 teams will play in all 30 arenas at least once in the regular season.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs will still be made up of 16 teams, but qualifying for the dance has been modified. The top three from each division will automatically qualify, and the final four spots will be made up of ‘wild card’ teams from both conferences, regardless of division, meaning it is possible for one division to send five teams, and the other only send three to the playoffs.

The playoff seedings will still be based on points earned in the regular season. The winner of the conference, who will be the division winner with the highest points, will face the wild-card team with the fewest points. Second in the conference, and the other division winner, will face the wild-card team with the second fewest points.

The four winners will advance on to play for a berth in the conference championship series, with the winner of the conference advancing to the Stanley Cup.

How does one describe Daniel Alfredsson’s move to Detroit? Most people call him a traitor for leaving Ottawa after being the Captain and spending his entire career there. Others, like new Boston Bruin Jarome Iginla (I’ll get to that in a minute), say the move is a good thing, stating that the elder statesmen like himself and Alfredsson, want to win Stanley Cups, and that their time is fast running out. However, is Detroit more of a Stanley Cup contender than the Senators? Especially after the Sens traded with the Ducks for Bobby Ryan. Detroit did also sign C Stephen Weiss from Florida, to replace Valtteri Flippula, who signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and possibly lost Damien Brunner and Daniel Cleary. Ottawa also traded away the rights to Sergei Gonchar to the Dallas Stars during the playoffs, meaning they have now lost two very skilled and experienced players from their roster, only adding Clarke MacArthur from Toronto, that isn’t a prospect.

The plan for Ottawa, was to pick up Ryan, and keep Alfredsson. Ryan was never meant to be the replacement. But now Jason Spezza has a new younger right wing beside him, and maybe, just maybe, and surprisingly, losing their captain may be the best thing that could happen to the Ottawa Senators.

Speaking of marquee iconic players at a franchise, Vincent Lecavalier’s contract was bought out by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Vinnie had so much of an impact in Tampa, that there is a children’s hospital that exists, because of the contribution that Lecavalier provided. The veteran will now line up with Claude Giroux for the Flyers.

Boston on the other hand, finally claimed the guy they thought they had at the trade deadline last season. Jarome Iginla. After switching to Pittsburgh at the eleventh hour, and missing out on a Stanley Cup ring, Iginla joins the Eastern Conference Champions, hoping to lead the Bruins to the final step, to which they were beaten to last season by the Chicago Blackhawks. However, they will have to make that step, missing several pieces that got them there. Rich Peverley and Tyler Seguin were traded to the Dallas Stars, Nathan Horton signed with Columbus, backup Goaltender Anton Khudobin, now becomes the backup to Cam Ward in Carolina, Andrew Ference signed with the Edmonton Oilers, and they don’t look like re-signing Jaromir Jagr either. They may have gained Loui Eriksson in the Seguin/Peverley trade, but is he enough to cover the losses?

In other Free Agency news of significance, St. Louis added substantial depth at center, signing Maxim Lapierre and Derek Roy. Ray Emery became the replacement for Ilva Bryzgalov in Philadelphia, contesting the goaltending with Steve Mason. Dallas traded for Seguin and Peverley as mentioned earlier, but they also traded for more experienced middle ice depth in Shawn Horcoff from the Oilers, and signing solid backup Dan Ellis from Nashville.

Minnesota signed Matt Cooke and Keith Ballard, but lost Pierre-Marc Bouchard to the Islanders, and traded away Devin Setoguchi. Michael Ryder and Ryane Clowe will apply their trades in New Jersey, after the Devils traded in Cory Schneider from the Canucks during the draft. Toronto added David Clarkson, but bought out Mikhail Grabovski, and Phoenix added Mike Ribeiro, and Goaltender Thomas Greiss, who was the backup to Antti Niemi at San Jose.

Don’t think Free Agency is over yet, many good names are still on the board, with Goaltenders Ilya Bryzgalov, the returning Tim Thomas from hiatus, and Forwards Brenden Morrow, Jaromir Jagr and Mikhail Grabovski, leading the list of players still available. Many teams still have plenty of cap available, so you would think it wouldn’t be too long, before theses names find new homes.

BoredHockeyFan.com congratulates the Chicago Blackhawks in winning the 2013 Stanley Cup, by defeating the Boston Bruins in 6 games.

After being behind by 2 games to 1, the Blackhawks win three straight, including two goals from Bryan Bickell and Dave Bolland in 17 seconds of Game Six to clinch their second Stanley Cup in four years.

Patrick Kane, who scored the Cup winner against the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010, walked away with the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP. Kane finished with 19 points (9G, 10A), including nine points, in his final ten games.